Posts Tagged ‘Visitation Rites’

One week ago, some great minds in music writing/blogging converged at Newtown Radio in Brooklyn. The reason was to discuss the ethics of music writing online, and the recent increase in blogger run labels. The conversation was lively, informative and above all, fun. Those taking part say it was constructive, those listening in were tweeting up a storm.

The forum was organized by Visitation Rites and Microphone Memory Emotion. Ari Stern of Underwater Peoples helped us lead the conversation, and Mark from Newtown Radio contributed immensely with his technical assistance.

What’s the difference between a journalist/critic and a blogger? Does the difference lie in the medium in which said person writes?

Is objectivity possible in blogging? Is it even desirable?

Should we think of bloggers more as “curators” than as writers?

Can and should blogs write negative reviews? Does criticism have a place in the blogosphere?

Is it ethical for a blogger to sell what they have created a demand for?

Can a blogger ethically write about something that he or she also releasing? Is transparency enough?

How important is the question of scale? Would a blogger-run label represent a conflict of interest if it ceased to operate on a limited-run basis, and became a more commercially-minded operation with wide-scale distribution?

Does the fact that a blogger-run label boasts its own built-in pr-outlet give it a natural advantage over the traditional record label? Do blogger-run labels have the potential to transform the record industry from the inside-out?

Are blogs the new A&R?

The concept of “firsties.”

At the end of the conversation, we took a few calls and tweets with questions, including what we have every reason believe was a request for Tumblr advice from Carles himself. Unfortunately, we ran out of time mid-discussion. But this conversation was the first of many, so stay tuned.

Stream and download the whole conversation below. Newtown Radio is a DIY operation, so keep that in mind while listening. And no. Someone was not trying to call in via fax machine.

“Underwater Visitations Episode #8: The Blogger Ethics Roundtable”

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Departing from the premise that the Internet’s greatest strength lies in its power to foster dialogue, and that two distinct entities can join hands in solidarity while still remaining fundamentally themselves, Visitation Rites has teamed with Underwater Peoples Records for a weekly web radio series on Newtown Radio in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Like Underwater Peoples, Visitation Rites, and the third and larger entity we create when we band together, the umbrella concept of “Underwater Visitations” breaks down into three detachable units: an hour of DJing by the UPs, and hour of DJing by VR, and an intermediary hour of cross-fertilization reserved for in-studio performances, interviews, news updates, conversation, and more.

Have no fear: we are not looking to start a micro-corporation, or eradicate the distinction between a record label and a blog. If it seems like we are crossing some invisible ethical line, channeling some stinky disorderly conduct on the superhighway of information, then that is kind of what we are trying to get at. The music industry of the information age is positively overflowing with crossed lines, economic question marks, and uncertain journalistic values, and that is precisely why we need to get together and powwow. The subtitle of Underwater Visitations, therefore, is “The Music of the 21st century, and the 21st century in Music”; keep in mind, however, that it could just as easily be “technology in music,” “the recession in music,” “music writing in the blogger era,” or “the changing face of DIY.” Expect panel discussions, chat-ins, Chat Roulette escapades, and flat-out arguments.

For our inaugural episode, we were joined by pastiche voyager and seasoned train-hopper Run DMT, who rolled up at the station with nothing but an acoustic guitar and a dream. DMT, who informed me that he “used to be a bard,” kicked off his set with a phone call to his mother, then launched into a cover of “Angie” by the Rolling Stones, a musical interpretation of a live journal, and a song he used to play while begging for money outside of a Whole Foods. Stream the entire episode below, or download it here.

Stay tuned for our second episode next Thursday 4-7 EST, with a live in-studio by Ducktails and an extra-special all-tropical DJ set by Brooklyn’s own Bryce Hackford.

This past Sunday was jam-packed, but I am glad that I got to stop by Newtown Radio for an hour and squeeze some sound files into this most musty and archival of Arthur Radio episodes. Among the transmission’s many mind-warping attributes, DJ Ivy Meadows (Camilla Padgitt-Coles) took a dip into her bottomless vault of spoken text recordings, which includes the sound of Freud’s own voice and a 2003 home recording by the legendary American poet/filmmaker/wanderer Ira Cohen. In the poem “Atlantis Express,” excerpted below, Ira provides as fitting an introduction to the episode as any:

Let’s take a silver train underground
to the back streets of Atlantis
thru the corrugated iron roots &
then to the peak itself, to the
saddle of the last ridge past strewn
boulders,
finally meandering thru cascading snow
wearing miner’s hats on the perpendicular
dark night &
going up to the edge of the Southern Cross
where we reach at last the pure white
glistening glaciers &
begin to chant over bones in rags
of Scorpio
Armless in the sticky substance how could
they ever have had a chance?
Permission will not be required
only poems of blood offered to
the memory of TREE
It is not ice which is eternal
but the fury of the absolute
separating the void from the spirit
of man,
uplifting like life when it is used
against itself,
that is, Radical Love — & again, we
are reduced to living beings
Caught by the instant
we are taken away
We live in the imprint of the flame
& we are helmeted within the internal
blackness
where the ray begins its passage
across the indignant sky
Vain clouds uncaring in a tangle of
crossbeams
culminate in the hermaphroditic mirror…

“Arthur Radio Transmission #13: Clouds in the Hermaphroditic Mirror”

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ACT 1
Scene 1, Off AirIn which DJs Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites arrive at the Newtown Radio studio ready to set up but are hypnotized by a 25-minute bongo-laden siren dirge — Dreamcolour’s “Spiritual Celebration” — at the tail end of Sunday Brunch with Chocolate Bobka. Unbeknownst to them, the song spills fifteen minutes into the beginning of their set.

Scene 2, AsideMeanwhile, Peter Pearson, Derek Muro, and Lorna Krier of Brooklyn’s Love Like Deloreans steal away from their home base — a renovated closet space in Bushwick containing some 20 synthesizers — load half of them into a Volvo station wagon, and appear at the station door, successfully breaking the spell that has been cast over Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites.

ACT 2
Scene 1, On AirStill haunted by the specter of the siren from Act 1, Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites attempt to communicate their experience by layering ambient musics from lands as far and wide as ‘70s Germany, early 21st Century Northampton, and present-day Canada into a single organic continuum.

Scene 2, AsideIn which Love Like Deloreans set up all seven of the synthesizers they brought in the drowsy blink of a Sunday afternoon eye, causing Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites to suspect that that they too possess supernatural powers. Love Like Deloreans do their best to assuage their fears, suggesting that they are simply “putting the punk back in punctuality.” Exeunt Chocolate Bobka.

ACT 3
Scene 1, On AirLove Like Deloreans perform the first half of their in-studio. Dancing, Ivy Meadows and Visitation Rites attempt to document the event through Blackberry photos, Tweets, and a FlipCam.

Scene 2, On AirLove Like Deloreans pause to participate in an informal Q&A with Visitation Rites, touching upon their origins as a group, their cohabitation of the classical world and Brooklyn DIY, their roots in New York minimalism and Kosmische, and why the best way to listen to their music is while traveling cross-country.

Scene 3, On Air,Love Like Deloreans perform the second half of their in-studio. Dancing resumes. Ivy Meadows films an excerpt of their set through the anamorphic lens of an oddly shaped water bottle, the results of which can be seen below.

Like the supremely chill afternoon of live music and bbq that the Underwater Peoples hosted at a cattle ranch outside of Austin the day before, Micro–Pixel–Rites’ SXSW debut on Thursday, March 18 was a family affair — and not only because it united a host of musicians, label people, and “blogger types” who were already acquainted either online and off. Even if you rolled up to a sea of strange faces, the afternoon was so long and the summer camp vibe was so strong that you were pretty much bound to leave feeling like you had known everyone there since you braved your first canonball off the dock. I know we are adults now, but it was just that kind of day.(more…)

Visitation Rites, Microphone Memory Emotion, and PIXELHORSE are TERRIBLY sorry for the all the cigarette butts, PBR cans, and falafel balls that were left behind in the stairwell of said loft building, but also TERRIBLY touched to have hosted some of New Jersey’s finest in a context they have all but outgrown. After watching them become an international success story, I got to see these vocational boys-next door in exactly the way they should be seen: at a house party, surrounded by friends and ear-to-ear grins on all sides, watching Seinfeld Season 3 on the overhead projector, and hearing the cops roll up just in time for the closing chord.(more…)

Something I’ve discovered in my 25 years on this planet is that when life begins to feel like a tilt-a-whirl that you can’t jump off, contemplating the possibility of life on other planets is a great way to shuttle back down to earth. Case in point: if you take a moment or two out of your day to consider the fact that somewhere, perhaps trillions of light-years away, there is another sentient creature sitting there wondering whether you exist, and if you in turn are thinking about him, then that swiftly approaching tax deadline or drunken romantic mishap really won’t seem all that important. You might even be able to say to yourself that in the grand scheme of things (and I’m talking the REALLY grand scheme of things), they don’t matter at all. After all, we should probably just be grateful that out of all the atoms in the solar system, the atoms inside our bodies just happen to have drifted into this here gravitational orb, and that the planet earth just happens to be endowed with a mysterious thing called life. Whatever that is. If you’d like to try this technique out sometime, Ivy Meadows, Harry Painter, and I recommend Arthur Radio Voyage #7 as a soundtrack. Just remember to bring your space goggles, and maybe some dehydrated ice-cream for a snack.

“Arthur Radio Voyage #7: Alien Receptor” (02.28.10)

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The ladies of PIXELHORSE, Microphone Memory Emotion, and Visitation Rites present you with an exclusive pre-SXSW house show this weekend. Alex Bleeker and the Freaks will be there, freakin’ out, playing first. Family Portrait will follow, kicking off their tour and playing with their recently restored, stellar lineup. Finally, there will be a suuuper special secret surprise guest performance*. (We’re so excited about this we could pee!) Come party with your fave bloguettes, bros and bands, and help fuel their trips down to Austin, TX for SXSW 2010 so thousands can benefit from their beautiful jams.(more…)

Elise Oh, Georgia Kral, and I had been contemplating throwing a joint SXSW showcase for some time when we stumbled upon this insano musical collab between Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin over at the Pixelhorse headquarters the other day. Needless to say, we realized that we, too, were capable of making our dreams come true. Visitation Rites, in collaboration with fellow lady-run blogs Pixelhorse and Microphone Memory Emotion, is proud to announce a sunny Austin afternoon of beer, barbecue, and babes — not to mention 10 of our favorite acts in independent music right now. The party will drop on the 18th of March into the same grassy backyard where After the Jump Fest hosted its own unofficial party in 2008 and 2009, and will feature the following friends, in no particular order:(more…)